Critical Thinking and Reasoning Skills
Critical thinking and reasoning skills are popular buzz words in the education world. Why are those skills necessary, and how are those skills developed and encouraged, especially in elementary students?
Let us begin by defining critical thinking. The Foundation for Critical Thinking presented a multi paragraph definition of the term critical thinking in 1987 by Michael Scriven and Richard Paul. The first sentence synthesizes the idea and definition of critical thinking. It states, "Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action."
In elementary school applications, critical thinking is not just memorizing facts. Teachers need to help students connect the dots between different concepts and subject areas. Additionally, teachers need to encourage students to think creatively and apply their knowledge.
How can teachers help young elementary students to develop critical thinking skills and reasoning skills? Scholastic.com has an article that breaks down the key learning points for early elementary students. The simple answer is to ask open-ended questions. The sidebar of the article breaks down the stages of learning into bullet points by age. The sidebar note regarding 5-6 year old students states:
Stage by Stage 5 -6
At this age, children are beginning to understand the application of theory to everyday experiences.
Kindergartners are beginning to be able to hold information in their minds and use it to make comparisons.
Fives and sixes are straddling the fence between concrete and abstract experiences.
Let's transition from defining terms and stages to viewing the work of a particular six year old.
In the image above, you can see that the student was working on phonics, specifically ending and middle sounds of words. Look at the top row, middle word. The desired answer was "n" to create the word tin. The student sounded out each ending sound and decided on "g" and confidently said "tig." I replied, "Is tig a word?" The student said, "well, yeah. Tig weld tool." That was not the answer that I was expecting, but was pleasantly surprised. After hearing the answer, I remembered that the student's father, uncles, and many family friends are welders and that the term tig has probably been used in his presence.
As you can see from the image above, the same student was working on a thinking skills worksheet. The directions were to circle the item that does not belong. Look at number 3. The desired answer was to circle the wagon of hay because it was not a machine. As you can see, the student circled the crane. I asked why he circled the crane. The student explained, "You don't use a crane on a farm."
From the examples above, you can see that the student utilized critical thinking and reasoning skills. The student was able to analyze the options, evaluate the information from his experience, reasoned and communicated his answer effectively. As a result, the student was given credit for each of his answers because of his critical thinking and reasoning skills.
References:
Scriven, M. and Paul, R. (1987). Defining Critical Thinking. The Foundation for Critical Thinking.
Miller, S. and Church, E. (n.d.). Ages & Stages: Helping Children Develop Logic & Reasoning Skills.
Retrieved from: https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/ages-stages-helping-children-develop-logic-reasoning-skills/
